


Who are you really?

by Distorted_Archivist



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Canon-Typical The Spiral Content (The Magnus Archives), Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, It/Its Pronouns For Michael | The Distortion (The Magnus Archives), Johnny Sims was a coward and should’ve name them friends, Platonic sasha and michael, Sasha James Lives, Sasha and Michael are bffs, Writing michael is so fun and hard, Yes the title is that one song, but its really just platonic, but not really, could be romantic if you squint, im obsessed with that switch between he or she pronouns to it pronouns in canon, im sorry if sasha is a little ooc i literally only put effort into doing michael justice, just the teeniest bit of angst, michael saves sasha from the not them, spoilers for season one finale duh, this should’ve been canon smh, until later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28635639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Distorted_Archivist/pseuds/Distorted_Archivist
Summary: If Johnny Sims had not been a coward and had actually elaborated on the ‘Michael and Sasha being friends’ plot pointAka Michael saves Sasha from the NotThem and they become best friends and also i go wild on descriptions and in depth analyzations of Michael’s character so enjoy
Relationships: Sasha James & Michael Shelley, Sasha James & Michael | The Distortion
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	Who are you really?

Sasha was used to it by now.

Seeing the distorted figures in shop windows or in reflections on the water, feeling that certain air of unease-but she supposed it wasn’t unease anymore. Now that she was used to it, it was more of a comfortable, expected strangeness. She was used to the far away yet nearby laughter, the sudden split seconds of oversaturated colors, the constant sensation of deception. She was used to it, and so it didn’t bother her anymore. It was no longer something she considered out of the ordinary, only just a new accepted part of her life. She wasn’t upset about it, there were far worse things that could’ve claimed to plague her way of living. In a way it was almost a relief that this was what she ended up with. Sometimes it got on her nerves, sure. When she was stressed or worked up she found the constant color strain against her eyes and the unforgettable feeling of oddity too much for her. However that was only sometimes, and she couldn’t blame the thing really, it was all it knew how to do. It’s what it had always done, so why should she be the one to persuade it to change? Most days it was almost entertaining. A new sense of normalcy struck from spying the warped bodies in the shop windows, spotting the sudden flashes of color, picking out the doors that weren’t supposed to be there. She was used to it.

She was used to it, and so it didn’t surprise her when she heard an all too familiar creeeeak while she typed away on her laptop in her office that day. 

She didn’t even need to look up, she already knew what was there.

“Hello, little assistant.” A voice that seemed faint and booming at the same time echoed in her ear.

“Hi Michael.” She replied, a small grin tugging at her lips.

The presence beside her seemed to fill the entire room, sucking up the previous energy and replacing it with its own. Sasha was used to this as well. She finished typing out the sentence she was in the middle of and finally looked up, seeing exactly what she had anticipated. The same tall thin distorted stature. The same long blonde hair constantly twisting itself in and out of messy curls. The same unimaginably long sharp fingers, the skin of which looked just too small to thinly stretch across all the bones inside. The same overly-wide smile that a human face shouldn’t have been able to create peeking out from behind a wooden yellow door that shouldn’t have been there.

“What are you doing?” Michael inquired in its dreamy sing-song voice.

Sasha shrugged. “Just the usual,” she said, “research, statements, not too exciting things.”

“How strange,” The being stated, “that not too exciting things can differ from person to person.”

“Still at it with your riddles I see?” Sasha remarked jokingly.

“I am simply vocalizing my thoughts, little assistant.”

“My name’s Sasha, Michael.” She cut in, “I call you by your real name- not some weird title- you can call me by mine.”

“Michael is not-“

“I know I know” Sasha interrupted, “ ‘Michael is not your real name there is no such thing as a real name etcetera etcetera’, you’ve given me this monologue before.”

Michael blinked in silence before letting out a long stream of its echoing warbled laughter.

“You are a clever one...Sasha,” It addressed her by her name for the first time, “your memory does not fail you.”

Sasha hummed lightly in response, she looked back down at her laptop, clicking away again.

“So why are you here?” She asked the avatar, “come to tell me something important or just to watch me work?”

Michael laughed again.

“What’s funny?” Sasha tilted her head slightly.

“You are funny, Sasha,” It replied simply, still laughing lightly, “the way you are.”

“What’s that s’pose to mean?”

It shrugged, “what do you want it to mean?”

Sasha, frankly confused, shook off the question, “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

“We are friends,” Michael stated as if it were as simple a fact as one plus one, “friends are supposed to check on each other, correct?”

It was Sasha’s turn to laugh. Michael cocked its head to the side, seemingly confused.

“Am I wrong?” It asked.

“No! No you just-“ Sasha let her laughter die down, “-when you say it like that it makes it all sounds so foreign to you, it's a little funny.”

“I do not understand.”

“I mean- because you’re literally-“ Sasha flailed her arms in a vague gesture at the avatar before realizing she probably wouldn’t be able to make it less confused and decided to drop it. “Never mind, that’s very kind of you to...check on me.”

A pleased smile stretched its way across Michael’s face and for a moment Sasha found it hard to believe it had the power to cause people harm. It just seemed so innocent, childlike almost, so proud of itself for ‘being a good friend’. She only let the thought linger for a second before contradicting herself. She knew what it was capable of- what it could do. She’d seen it. It was still a monster, only it had for some reason decided to be kind to her. She should consider herself lucky that she wasn’t already dead, but then again if it weren’t for Michael she probably would be.

“...Michael,” She started to ask suddenly, “do you know what would’ve happened to me in artifact storage- during Prentiss’ attack I mean...what would’ve happened to me if you hadn’t been there?”

Michael seemed to turn her question over in its mind a few times before answering. “It is very likely you would no longer be.”

“...be what?”

“Anything.” It answered simply.

This sent a shudder down Sasha’s spine.

“Well then I suppose an extra thank you is in order.” She replied.

“I am simply preventing the inevitable.” Michael went on in its dreamlike voice, “you will die eventually, only I did not want you to die yet. And not at the hands of something so... predictable.”

Sasha opened her mouth, and then closed it again in mild confusion. She just nodded and went back to her work. Michael watched with its typical colorful curiosity as it leaned its tall form over her shoulder to observe her typing on the screen. Eventually, it left, leaving behind the sort of feeling you get just after waking up from a dream. The few drowsy moments of sitting upright in your bed debating if the previous experience had actually happened, or was just a trick of your subconscious. It didn’t take Sasha too long to recover from this strangely abandoned sensation however, for it was the same feeling that occurred every time Michael had visited, and so she was unsurprisingly: used to it.  
____________________________________________________________________ 

“Hello?” She had said shakily, “I see you!”

She had tried to sound brave, try to let even an ounce of confidence peak through her tone to have some chance of fending off whatever was in that room with her. Instead, she sounded quite frankly like a frightened child. She took a hesitant step forward, towards that table that made her stomach squirm.

“Show yourself!” She shouted weakly.

And it did.

Words could not describe how utterly horrifying the thing was. Long spindly graying limbs and appendages, a blank shadow where a face should’ve been, a terrible clawing sound as it slinked toward her at unimaginable speed. Sasha screamed, she tried to move but her legs wouldn’t unlock. She was paralyzed in fear. The thing scrambled toward her and the only thing she could think of through her terror was the dreadful thought:

‘I’m going to die here, alone.’

She closed her eyes tight, unable to run. Waiting to be devoured by this thing without jaws, when suddenly she felt a strong tug at the back of her cardigan and she was very forcefully pulled through...something.

She opened her eyes again just in time to watch a door slam in front of her as she landed, thrown crashing against an opposite wall. Alarmed, she jolted her head around to take in her surroundings. She was in the weirdest room she had ever seen. The place was covered top to bottom with mis-matched shapes and designs and colors. Mirrors lined the walls, but they warped and distorted her body like funhouse mirrors every time Sasha looked through one. The large yellow door that had just shut before her she assumed was the one she’d been pulled in through, but there were others all around the room, each a different shape and hue. Sasha had no clue what was going on- she wondered if she was already dead, and this was some sort of purgatory, or if that creature had brought her here to die truly alone, in an unfamiliar place, without the comfort of knowing anyone she knew was around. The thought made her want to cry, and she almost did before the yellow door opened again.

She recognized the thing that stepped through the door almost immediately. The blonde curls, the inhumanly lanky stature, the stretched out hands that were now covered in blood. It grinned that unnatural grin at her and she backed up slightly.

“...Michael?” She asked in a small voice.

If possible, the monster smiled even wider and let out a bit of that echoey laughter. “That is a wonderful name, little assistant.”

“It’s your name- you’re Michael from-“

“It is a name you know me by,” The thing interrupted, “but identities are much more than silly words you write on your desks, little assistant.”

“What are you doing here?? What’s happening? Where is that thing that was after me?-“

“The Stranger has been taken care of...for now.” Michael replied and Sasha looked again at its crimson stained fingers.

“You...you killed it?”

“I prevented it from killing you, if only for a short time. The Stranger has taken quite a liking to you.”

“This...this Stranger… it’s gone now?”

“For the time being...yes.”

“Because of you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” Sasha asked exasperated.

More of that laugh. That laugh that seemed to bounce off every surface and resonate in every conscience while all at once being barely more than a whisper at the same time. “Why?” It repeated, “What an odd question..”

“Why did you get rid of that thing? You’re a monster just like it- what does it matter to you if I died?” Sasha pressed.

“It does not.” Michael answered, “But I want to be friends, little assistant. We cannot be friends if you are dead.”

Sasha wasn’t sure what to say to that. This thing went out of its way to save her just because it still wanted to be pals? She tried not to think too hard about it.

“Jon and the others, what about them? Are they alright?” She asked hurriedly.

“I do not know.” It replied plainly, “The Hive is still entertaining itself with them I’m sure.”

Sasha felt her cheeks grow hot with a sudden frustration, “And you didn’t do anything about it?? You’ve already killed one monster today, why not check another one off the list??”

“The danger the Archivist and his friends may be in is not my concern at the moment.” Michael answered.

Sasha would’ve yelled at the thing if she wasn’t 1. Terrified, and 2. Owed it her life, so instead she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

“Well..” She said, “thank you Michael, for helping me out. I appreciate it, I really do, but I need to go find the others right now and I need to get out of this room.”

It shrugged. “Alright.”

Sasha blinked. “So...will you let me leave?”

More laughter, “Let? I am not keeping you here, little assistant. You can leave whenever you please.”

“Oh.” She blurted, “alright then.” She moved towards the yellow door and put her hand on the knob before turning back to Michael again.

“Michael… Why do you want to be my friend? To help me? What’s the real reason?”

An expression passed over the avatar’s face that to this day Sasha will never understand. It looked almost like...pity? No that wasn’t right, sadness. Genuine sadness that only lasted a split second before being wiped away and replaced once again with its typical artificial grin.

“You are an assistant, and you are in danger. I want to help.”

“Michael, everyone here is in danger.”

“I know, but you are my favorite.” It smiled wide and Sasha stared at it a moment longer in disbelief before turning and walking out the door.  
____________________________________________________________________

That day seemed so far away now, but not a day goes by when Sasha doesn’t think of it.  
____________________________________________________________________

Michael had come to visit Sasha pretty much every single day at this point. She didn’t mind, almost the opposite really. It was strangely comforting to have it there laughing and watching her work. It was nice in a way, to know that it really did just want a friend and wasn’t lying for the sake of killing her. She knew this because she knew it had had more than enough chances to kill her already. If it wanted to it would’ve, but it hadn’t, and therefore it was probably safe to say it wasn’t going to. She also knew she was safe with it because it seemed to be actively going out of its way to keep other monsters away from her. Nothing even vaguely supernatural besides Michael had happened to her since the Prentiss attack, and that was months ago now. Sasha knew that things were still after her, but whatever they were had quite a confusing obstacle before them. 

Over time Sasha began to wonder why Michael seemed to have such a fascination or even connection to the Institute. It seemed almost as though it had a history with it. One day, as the two of them went about their usual routine, she asked it.

“Michael,” she started, “have you always been like this? You know- the whole doors and spiral charade? What I mean is...were you ever at some point...human?”

Michael went silent for a long while, cocking its head to the side in contemplation before answering, “That is a bit of a complicated question, Sasha.”

“How so?”

Its face stretched into that familiar dreamy smile. “I was not always Michael. Michael was once like you, but I have always been the way I am.”

Sasha considered this for a moment. “So you mean you’ve always been the same...entity, but Michael was just a new form you took?”

It’s grin grew wider in satisfaction. “You are a clever one, Sasha.”

Sasha smiled back lightly and then thought a moment more. “Can you… can you tell me about it? The Michael before you?”

Michael’s face seemed almost to fall slightly. “That is an awfully long story, Sasha. And quite an unfortunate one at that.”

“Michael..” She had stopped working now, and was looking up at him fully, “Did you work here? Is that why you care so much about keeping me safe? Did you die working for Gertrude?”

Michael froze, and I mean everything froze. The constant warping and distorting of its body, the little swirls spinning inside its eyes, even its hair stopped twisting in and out of ringlets. Everything stopped, and Michael frowned. It frowned and for a split second, it didn’t look like the Michael she knew. For a fraction of a moment, Sasha could’ve sworn she saw the image of a normal human boy. A boy paralyzed in utter misery and terror, with an unforgettable expression of desperation plastered on his face. It only lasted a moment, but Sasha could make out and remember every single detail, and suddenly she understood.

“You know what?” She contradicted, “You don’t need to answer that. I think I get it.”

A long silence, and then finally, the faintest trace of dreamlike laughter. Only weaker this time, heavier.

“You never fail to surprise me, Sasha.” Michael spoke quietly, “When we were first acquainted, I would not have cared less whether you lived or died. Now, over all this time I have found myself realizing that I do want to help you. I do not want you to meet the same fate that Michael did.” 

Sasha stood up from her seat. She moved to stand in front of the towering avatar and carefully hugged it. It was the first time she had voluntarily touched the thing, and it felt somehow human and not at the same time, but this didn’t bother her. It didn’t really seem to know what to do.

“I do not want to harm-“ It began.

“Oh drop that shit,” Sasha cut in, “I’ve been almost eaten by worms like eighty-five times I think I’ll be ok.”

She didn’t mean for that to come off as rude as it sounded, but Michael only laughed lightly and very slowly and gently wrapped its snaking arms around her in return. Doing its best not to pierce her skin with its sharp fingers.

“I am feeling something,” Michael said, “I do not know what this means.”

Sasha couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s care, Michael. You care about people now. I guess that’s not something you’re used to.”

“Hmmm, no. But I do not dislike it” 

Sasha knew that that boy- or at least what was left of him, was still there in Michael. That whatever Michael was, it had been pushing down its humanity, trying to get rid of it completely in its monstrous nature, but that humanity was still in there, trying desperately to fight its way back to the top. Sasha was just beginning to see the glimpse of that fact. She didn’t think Michael would ever be as human as it may have once been. In fact she knew it wouldn’t. There just wasn’t enough human left for that to happen, which was sad, but now Sasha knew that its humanity wasn’t completely gone. She knew it was trying, and that was enough for her.

After a long while, she pulled out of the hug slightly and looked up at Michael. She smiled, and it- no, he smiled right back.


End file.
